


Endorsement

by jynx



Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Politics, captain america for president, political opinions, preslash, tony has such a cruh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-04
Updated: 2013-12-04
Packaged: 2018-01-03 10:27:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1069391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jynx/pseuds/jynx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark endorses his “candidate.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Endorsement

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this... September 5, 2008.

Tony really hated election years. Being who he was, such an upstanding member of the community and a media “darling” (most of the time), everyone was falling over themselves to find out which candidate he would endorse. It was almost a month to the polls and he was cracking under the pressure.

“Mr Stark, we're all dying to know,” the current reporter – some busty blonde in an incredibly low-cut shirt and short skirt combination that probably got her the ratings she wanted – started, voice breathy with eagerness, “which candidate do you endorse? It's a month to everything coming to a head and everyone else in your social circle have weighed in. Who do you support?”

Tony manfully resisted the urge to rip the microphone out of her hand and snap it in two. “I have no comment on that matter, miss. I believe the people should make up their minds on who would be best for them.”

Good god, Steve is really rubbing off on me, he sighed.

“Mr Stark, are you saying you won't vote?” the reporter asked slyly.

“I never said that,” Tony said with a winning smile, trying not to twitch. “I just said that it really didn't matter who I endorse.”

“Actually,” the reporter said with an equally charming smile, “we have testimonials from several people who are waiting to see where the famous Tony Stark stands on the election before casting their own ballots.”

Tony arched a brow at her, “Really? Give me a ballpark number.”

“Our station, at least, have found the numbers to be in the high hundreds. We have statements from your Board as being all for McCain, but where does the head of Stark Industries lie?”

Steve's going to kill me... “Unfortunately, the one I want to vote for isn't on the ballot.”

The reporter practically jumped on him, “Oh? Which candidate are you writing in, Mr Stark?”

Tony gave her a winning smile, making sure he had his car keys and could bolt the moment he gave her what she wanted, “If given the chance, I would vote for Captain America.”

He waited for it to register, how she went completely blank with shock before pushing through the crowd and getting into this Audi and getting out of there. Not only was Steve going to kill him, his Board would, and so would Pepper. Dammit. 

Well, it wouldn't be the first time he did something just to get the Press off his back.

~

“What the hell were you thinking?” Steve shouted at him the moment he stepped out of the elevator.

Tony froze, blinking at a very angry Steve. “Uh, hi, honey, I'm home?”

Steve just gave him a furious look before storming off. Unfortunately, that still left Pepper. “Explain, now. Do you have any idea the amount of calls I'm fielding about your latest screw up? You know this means we'll have to schedule a press conference – again – because you couldn't keep your mouth shut!”

Tony gave her a mild look, “I'm not willing to publicly endorse either. The Board wants McCain for the contracts we won't take, and I'm more than happy to either not vote or vote for Obama.”

“Tony!” Pepper snapped at him, hands on her hips. “Former Secretaries of Defense can't not vote!”

Tony gave her a mild look and headed into the kitchen to get coffee, “Yeah, I know. I'm just tired of idiots like that blonde, plastic Barbie hounding me for my vote.”

“Way to go, Stark!” Peter crowed from his spot on the wall, eating a sandwich. “You got a point, Cap's totally a better candidate than anyone else on the ballot.”

“See what you started!” Pepper snapped at him, pointing to Peter. “People look up to you to point them in the right direction!”

“Why do I think that was an insult?” Peter asked, sounding forlorn.

“Because it was,” Tony said flatly, pouring himself a mug of coffee. “Pepper, what would you like me to do? Politics have become something that are just a game, there's nothing about what's actually best for the common man involved here, just on who can make the most money.”

“I want to schedule a press conference and have you explain yourself and then endorse one or the other,” Pepper said with a glare.

Tony sipped his coffee, “You think people are actually going to take a write-in seriously?”

Pepper grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the living room where CNN was cheerfully reporting that since his endorsement of Cap, the ratings had been warped completely. Cap now was at 15% with Obama still leading over McCain at 50% overall. Steve was standing there, arms crossed and lips tinged white with anger.

Tony just stared at the halo-screen, “Shit.”

“You are fixing this,” Pepper said with what Tony would bet was a snarl.

Tony just stared at the screen, “It hasn't even been an hour.”

“Fix it,” Steve said quietly. It was that type of quiet that made alarms go off in Tony's brain.

Yeah, Steve was going to kill him.

Tony swore and sat on the couch, “Schedule the damned thing. Someone needs to set the goddamned sheep right.”

“They're not sheep,” Steve said, just as quietly. “They look to you, to every other person in the public eye, to give them somewhere to start looking and evaluating their options.”

“No,” Tony said slowly, eying Steve, “they're sheep. I say I would rather you than any of the current candidates and within what, thirty minutes, everyone else thinks it's the best thing ever. That's a sign of sheep, Steve. They don't know where you stand on issues, whether you'd destroy the country or actually fix it. I could say I endorse fucking Captain Morgan and within the same time frame, a fictional character off a liquor bottle would be in the running.”

“Fix it,” Steve said before turning and leaving the room.

“Just because they're sheep doesn't mean they don't have brains,” Pepper said coldly.

“No, but it's not likely they're going to use it anyway,” Tony said with a sigh. “Get the press here and let's get it over with.”

“Thirty minutes,” Pepper warned before storming out of the penthouse.

“Fuck me,” Tony groaned, eyeing his coffee and really wishing there was whiskey in it.

~

“--just because I said I would endorse Captain America does not mean he's actually running in the election or wants to be elected,” Tony said, keeping his voice cool and calm, playing the age old media game and wanting nothing more than to go blow something up. “He's not, so putting him on the ratings is insulting to all the candidates who actually are on the ballot.

“Why did I mention him at all? Because of two reasons: I was tired of all of you hounding me to find out which way I would jump and because I would vote for him if he were on the ballot. My opinions shouldn't matter to the public at large as much as everyone makes out that it should. I'm a CEO of a company that has a past in arms manufacturing and has been recently making waves in the medical and technology fields. My Board has already globally backed McCain, and it's no secret that most of Stark Industries employees are hoping for Obama.

“My opinion, largely, is one man's opinion. The fact that the media as a whole had built it up so that one man's opinion or vote effects millions of people and influences the way they think is a little startling. People shouldn't just vote because a good-looking, wealthy man comes on TV and says they endorse candidate X. They should go on the web sites, look at the issues and vote based on what they believe is best for them. Ignorance is what the Electoral College was originally put in place to prevent, and for everyone's griping, all the media is doing is proving we still need that establishment.

“So, if all you who considered Captain America because I said so, consider this: I'm not publicly endorsing any candidate. I've already endorsed who I want to, for my own personal reasons, but I refuse to turn this into a bigger circus than it already is. You all have my heart-felt apology over my previous comment, I had no idea it would be taken as seriously as everyone has made it.”

Tony had said his piece and answered the questions as they came, and every single reporter looked cheated. No scandal here, just Stark being Stark. Big surprise. 

The entire thing was broadcast live, as most of his screw ups were, and slowly, the polls fixed themselves within an hour. The candidates had their own interviews scheduled over this latest election disaster, and both were quiet amused by it all. Both McCain and Obama admitted they themselves would vote for Captain America if he were running, but he wasn't, and they would try and live up to his example while silently pushing their own agendas.

By the time the day had ended, Tony was firmly entrenched in his workshop, had it under such lock down that no one (and he did mean no one – those codes were his and his alone, and he refused to give them out to any living soul) would be able to get in and disturb him.

He had lectured the media, gotten away with it, and the stocks actually went up. Apparently going on national TV and telling the American people to actually use their brains (in a round about way) was good press. What the hell, he wasn't in the mood to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Instead, he was trying to make an actual functioning sonic screwdriver. If that failed, he had plans to make a semi-functioning miniature Stargate (minus the wormhole). Unfortunately, that was when the alarm for the door went off. Pulling up the screen with that information pulled security camera footage of Steve leaning against the wall and trying combination after combination.

With a sigh, Tony released the door, letting Steve come in.

“If you want to lecture me, then go away,” Tony said, poking the insides of the screw driver.

“You screwed up,” Steve said shortly.

“Yes, thank you, I've been made aware of the issue. Honestly, why is everyone surprised when this happens? I proved by the time I was twenty that I screw almost everything up. It's tabloid fodder.”

“American politics are already on such shaky ground--”

“What do you want from me?” Tony asked, setting his tools aside and turning to look at Steve. “Honestly, what do you want? I fixed it, just like you wanted, just like Pepper wanted. And shock! The stocks went up, which means my Board is happy with me, for once. Now that I've played to proper media robot, all I want is to just ignore the world, but clearly that's not allowed either! So, Steve, what do you--”

Steve pulled him into a kiss, shutting him up quickly. “You need to start thinking before you speak,” Steve said, while Tony just blinked at him, startled. “You also need to think of the repercussions. Just because most of what you say ends up on a tabloid doesn't mean it all will.”

“You kissed me,” Tony said, dumbstruck.

Steve rolled his eyes, “I'm still mad at you, for the record. I get what you were trying to do, but you did it the wrong way.”

“You kissed me.”

“Oh, for... Jarvis sent me down to get you for dinner, all right?” Steve sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and going to leave.

“You kissed me,” Tony repeated.

Steve groaned and grabbed Tony by the wrist and tugged him over to the elevator. “C'mon, Thomas Paine, dinner's getting cold.”

“Why did you kiss me?”

“If it's such a problem, I won't do it again.”

“Never said it wasn't.”

“Then what's the problem?”

“...why did you just call me Thomas Paine?” Tony asked, curious.

“Because you both tried to wake people up.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly.”


End file.
